45 Ky. 86 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1845
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This bill was filed by the infant heirs and administrator of the domicil of John Atchison, deceased, a citizen of Kentucky, and domiciled here at the time of his death, against James Lindsey, who administered on the estate of the decedent, in South Carolina, but is himself a resident and citizen of Kentucky. The bill alledges that Lindsey, as administrator in South Carolina, had there received assets to a large amount, consisting of slaves and their hire, debts, choses in action, and money ; that he had himself occupied parts of the real estate, as tenant, before and since the death of Atchison, and had received the rents and profits of other parts thereof, since the death of Atchison, and that “the balance remaining in his hands, on account of assets received by him as administrator, and rents due from him as tenant, and mon-’
To this answer, which fails entirely to respond to the special allegations and interrogatories of the bill, the complainants excepted, and afterwards the case, without further steps taken, having been submitted, a decree was rendered, dismissing the bill with costs.
The answer being -clearly insufficient as a response to the facts alledged, and inquiries made in the bill, the decree can only be sustained upon the ground that there is either in the bill or answer, something to show that the defendant was not bound to make further response, and that the complainants were entitled to no relief. If the bill had sought to charge the defendant onlyjor assets re
But was the answer sufficient as to,that part of the demand which relates to the assets received by Lindsey as administrator in South Carolina ? Or in other words, ■can Lindsey, a citizen and resident of this State, avoid all accountability and responsibility here for money in his hands belonging to the complainants, on the ground that having received it in South Carolina, as administrator appointed under the laws of that State, the tribunal which appointed him is the proper one with which to settle his accounts ?
The principle on which this claim of irresponsibility here is founded, is that the assets situated in S. Carolina, and received there by the administrator appointed under her authority, are to be administered according to her laws. But it is also a well settled principle of international law, that the law of the domicil of the intestate, shall govern in the distribution of his assets wherever they may be situated. It is only for the benefit of creditors belonging lo the State or nation where the assets may happen to be, and whose interests it is the duty of the State to protect, that the administration granted there is to be regulated by the law of that place. But conceding that the State where the assets may.be, and where an administration foreign to the domicil of the decedent may be appointed, has the right, not only to hold the assets there situated, subject to the claims of its own citizens as creditors, entitled to be paid according to its own laws, but also to hold them subject to the claims of all creditors, to be paid according to the same laws, does it follow that when there are no longer any such claims upon them, and the remaining surplus belongs exclusively to those who are entitled to distribution according to the law of the domicil, this surplus can be demanded of the foreign administrator no where but in the State under whose laws he was appointed ? Or is it not more reasonable to say, that to this extent the demand is personal, and en-forcible wherever the administrator may be found? And however this may be, would it not be unreasonable, and a sacrifice of substantial justice to a mere shadow, to say that when the foreign administrator is not a citizen of the <?tate ia which he obtains administration, but is a resi
Upon the express authority of this case, and under our own sense of what is required by convenience and justice, and of the comity due to the sovereignty and laws of South Carolina, we are of opinion, that the mere fact that Lindsey was appointed administrator in that State, and received there the assets for which he is now charged, does not of itself exempt him from all liability to be sued in the tribunals of this State, fora claim growing out of his having thus received the assets, to the proceeds of which the complainants or some of them are entitled. Whether any decree should finally be rendered against him on this account, may depend upon the facts disclosed in his answer, and upon the proof. But we think he was bound to answer, and that the exceptions to the answer filed, should have been sustained. Whether the administrator, who was made a joint complainant with the heirs of Atchison, can be entitled to any specific decree in his favor, it is unnecessary, in the present stage of the .case, to decide. He was a proper party in this suit, and his being made a co-complainant, does not affect the right of the heirs to the appropriate relief.
The decree dismissing the bill is reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to sustain ’the exceptions to Lindsey’s answer, and for further proceedings.